Save Up to $100 Off Disney World Resorts: Late 2022 to Spring 2023

Walt Disney World has released new resort discounts of up to $100 rooms per night for December 2022 through Spring 2023 for the general public. This post shares dates & details of these special offers, commentary about all of the new deals that have dropped for early 2023, plus sample pricing, analysis & other info.

Currently, there discounts of up to 25% off rooms at Walt Disney World for APs have already been released for most nights now through December 25, 2022. There’s also the Christmas Deal for Disney+ Subscribers. That promotion is also still available to book, but dates are more limited during the holiday season.

Looking forward to 2023, Walt Disney World just released a new Florida resident discount offering up to 20% off rooms. This follows up a similar deal last week offer to Annual Passholders of up to 25% off room-only rates. Now, there’s a deal for similar dates (and then some) for the general public. That’s right, NO AFFILIATION needed for this–anyone is eligible!

Let’s start with the official details for the new discount: You can save up to US$400 on a 4-night, 4-day Walt Disney Travel Company room-and-ticket package at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels, valid for stays:

• Most nights December 11, 2022 through December 25, 2022
• Most Sunday through Thursday nights January 2, 2023 through February 28, 2023
• Most nights March 1, 2023 through March 30, 2023

Lower savings may be available during this time at other select Resort hotels.

When you take advantage of this offer, you’ll be surrounded by The World’s Most Magical Celebration, a once-in-a-lifetime event brimming with EARidescent excitement—taking place now through March 31, 2023. Plus, as a Guest of a Disney Resort hotel, you can enjoy early entry to the theme parks 30 minutes before opening to experience select attractions (with valid park admission and a park reservation)—giving you even more to celebrate!

Here are resort by resort discounts:

Note that additional per-adult charges may apply if more than 2 adults per room at Disney Value, Moderate and Deluxe Resorts and Studios at Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts. Advance reservations are required, and stays must be at least 2 nights and up to 14 nights to qualify. This deal cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.

Theme park tickets are valid for admission beginning on date of check-in and must be used within a limited number of days, depending on length of stay and ticket. Valid admission and a park reservation are required for the same park and same day to enjoy theme parks and special events and are not included in this offer.

This up to $100 off per night discount excludes the following room types: 3-bedroom villas, The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort — Little Mermaid Standard Rooms.

Here’s what we found for best available rates for this December 2022 to March 2023 general public discount:

Since this is a flat rate dollar amount off, the percentage savings offered by the discount will vary. As such, the above ‘best dates’ overview is not nearly as helpful as with the AP or FL resident rates.

With that said, I priced out rooms during the “Value” rate season at Walt Disney World. On the rack rate chart spectrum, this is THE least expensive time to visit Walt Disney World. This season occurs throughout the winter months during non-holiday weekdays, as illustrated below in the rate chart for Disney’s All Star Movies Resort:

If you’re simply looking for the very best dates, they are as follows:

• January 2 to 4, 2023
• January 9 to 11, 2023
• January 16 to 18, 2023
• January 23 to 25, 2023
• January 30 to February 1, 2023
• February 6 to 8, 2023

Those are all Monday through Wednesday nights. If you’re looking for the very cheapest options, you’ll find them at the All Star Resorts, which offer a standard room base rate of $113/night for all of those dates.

For more on timing your trip to coincide with the lowest prices, see When’s Cheapest to Visit Walt Disney World in 2022-2023? That covers price increases and other variables that impact the cost of a vacation beyond just room rates.

My assessment of Walt Disney World’s deal is that it’s weak by historical standards BUT much better than the recent general public discounts we’ve seen…which are nothing at all!

There are a couple things I don’t like about this offer. First, it being a flat-rate rather than a percentage savings puts those in higher rate seasons at a disadvantage. (Conversely, that’s an upside if you simply choose the cheapest dates, as listed above.) Second, this requires purchasing tickets to get the room discount, which means you can’t purchase discount tickets via authorized sellers. So that alone cuts into savings.

Finally, it’s not totally transparent. This is not actually limited to $400 off, which may come as a surprise based on the way Walt Disney World is framing this: “Save Up to $400 on a room-and-ticket page.”

For whatever reason, Disney does this weird thing where they market this type of discount as an example for a certain number of nights. Usually, it would be phrased as “Save Up to $400 on a 4-Night Package” (or something like that). This time, it’s presented in more absolute terms. It’s always confusing, but this time it’s especially odd.

That is almost never how the discount actually works when I’ve been pricing out the deals. That’s true again here, as you can see the same package with and without this discount applied (above and below) for a hypothetical February 2023 stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

This is particularly good news for those doing longer stays. You could save over $1,000 if you actually max out this discount, rather than the $400 that Walt Disney World advertises. (Why they do this is beyond me. It’s deceptive…but in a way that works to their disadvantage!)

Just keep in mind that some nights are excluded or offer lesser, published savings. So you’re probably not going to actually see savings of $20, $40, or $100 off per night if your trip encompasses a longer date range with Friday and Saturday nights included.

All things considered, I’m pretty pleased with this special offer. As mentioned in the AP and Floridian discounts that were recently dropped, I don’t know if this is a matter of moving the goalposts or being conditioned to expect higher prices over the last two years, but I look at some of those rates and think “not too shabby!”

Then I think back to a few years ago when deals were much more aggressive, and realize these are nothing particularly special. Then I remember that I don’t own a time machine and am once again pretty pleased with these rates. It’s a bit like playing mental pinball, bouncing back and forth between thinking it’s a good and bad deal.

On balance, there’s the practical reality that these are arguably good deals by more recent precedent. Many of you aren’t Annual Passholders or Floridians, and haven’t been offered any discounts at all in months. When viewed as compared to discounts from the last couple of quarters, this is something–which is better than nothing.

In other words, it’s all relative. If you’re a seasoned Walt Disney World dealhunter with a long memory, this is undoubtedly disappointing. Conversely, if you’ve just started pricing out your first visit within the last few months, this might be exciting. Unless your name is Emmett Brown, it’s not particularly productive to compare this to deals from a few years ago–it’s not like you can go back in time and book those.

As always, discounts are dictated by supply and demand and not by corporate benevolence. The simple (and unfortunate) fact of the matter is that Walt Disney World hasn’t needed to offer aggressive deals in order to incentivize trips or fill rooms. That same sentiment could be applied beyond Disney. For pretty much everything, prices have gone up across the board and discounts are less commonplace.

That’s due to a mix of pent-up demand, supply chain woes, and worker shortages that exist throughout society right now, from hotels to grocery stores. (If you haven’t already read it, we’d recommend What’s Up with Sold Out Hotels at Walt Disney World?)

Regardless of the cause, it’s likely that these late 2022 and early 2023 discounts are going to be disappointing to many of you. Beyond those traveling in the first quarter of the calendar year, the ongoing pent-up demand and lack of discounting might be disheartening for those who have been upset by recent price increases, Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and other cuts.

On the plus side, availability for the dates we spot-checked is pretty good at most resorts. This suggests to us that either Walt Disney World is increasing guest loads at the resorts or bookings aren’t nearly as strong for a lot of dates as they have been this fall and holiday season.

Another positive is that Walt Disney World has now released several discounts that run through March or April 2023 in the span of a week, and they’ve done so far earlier than normal by historical standards. If recent weak discounting and late releases are a sign that pent-up demand has still been running strong, this is a sign that the opposite may no longer be true as of early 2023.

If that anecdotal observation is accurate–and it may not be–we still might see better discounts for later in 2023, or at least more rooms unloaded on Priceline or Hotwire. Walt Disney World also might take a wait and see approach to releasing more deals, wanting to assess forward-looking bookings before offering anything “too good.”

As we’ve written several times in the last few months, we’re optimistic that there will be better Walt Disney World discounts in 2023. There’s a chance this holiday season will be the “last hurrah” for pent-up demand. As that starts to fizzle out, household savings decrease, inflation stings more, and the economy slows down, it seems increasingly likely that Walt Disney World will experience its own slowdown.

Who knows if any of that will actually happen, though. I didn’t think “revenge travel” would run this hot for this long. It’ll be interesting to see how all of this actually plays out. The return of international guests in full force could sustain Walt Disney World’s strong demand even longer, as could special events. That could also be offset by the return of more hotel rooms to the inventory. No one knows how many rooms are currently out of commission at the operational resorts, but at some of them, it’s not a negligible number.

Still, seeing Walt Disney World release 4 new discounts in the span of a week certainly gives me a newfound sense of optimism that maybe we have finally turned the corner on pent-up demand. While there have been a few “false starts” on that front, I can’t recall the last time there was a slate of deals on par with what we’re seeing for early 2023. You’d probably have to look back all the way to late 2020 or early 2021–and it was a totally different world then.

On top of that, the newly-released discounts include several resorts that have been excluded from other recent promos, including Bay Lake Tower, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, and Caribbean Beach Resorts. (After being excluded from several offers this year, the first three of those are now in the highest tier, all offering $100 off per night!)

Although not included as part of this offer, the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation are part of the New 2023 Walt Disney World Room Deals for Disney Visa Cardmembers. I can’t recall the last time discounts were offered for those–it might be 5+ years ago!

This is all pretty positive news, but it would be premature to get overly excited based on one batch of better discounts. As intimated above, we’ve been down this road before and then things picked back up. However, this does encompass Presidents’ Day and most of Spring Break, which are two really busy times of the year. It’s not as if these discounts are only during the winter off-season.

Nevertheless, I would not take a wait and see approach as a consumer. While I hope that things start to normalize and we see a return to regular discounting patterns, I’d still stop short of predicting that will happen in the first half of 2023. (We will be closely monitoring what’s released and will notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when any Walt Disney World discounts are released or rumored!)

If anything, I’m worried that February will bring with it the annual price increases, meaning that anyone who waits to book might find themselves paying more for tickets or other components of their package. From that perspective, locking in a package price now might be desirable, making this room-and-ticket discount even more appealing.  Just something to consider if you know you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World at some point in 2023, as booking now and applying a discount later (if or when one is released) is likely the best course of action.

Ultimately, if you’re eager for an escape to Walt Disney World at Christmas 2022 through Spring 2023, these deals are the first that’s been offered to the general public in a while…so perhaps there’s at least a sense of relief. I’m not really sure. In theory, you can still do better with Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals (although it’s pretty much only confirmed reservations now) or Hotwire & Priceline Express Deals for Walt Disney World (but we haven’t see any WDW hotels added to either in months), but with both of those options also more or less drying up, this truly might be as good as it gets for Spring 2023. (This is definitely as good as it’ll get for this December.)

If you want to take advantage of this discount, we’d recommend requesting a FREE no obligation quote from an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner and having them book for you. They will happy to assist you with the planning process, help you choose the most economical dates, best add-ons, and so forth. Notably, they also monitor reservations and can retroactively apply new discounts if a better deal is released to save you more money.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of these room only Walt Disney World discounts for Late 2022 & Spring 2023? Disappointed that they’re flat rates instead of percentage savings like normal, or just happy that something, anything is being offered? If you booked this, do you think you ended up with a good price or do you feel like you’re overpaying? What was available or unavailable for your dates? Is this deal enough to convince you to book a trip, or can you not justify these prices? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!